The explosive breakout to the topside in gold this morning following the now heavily-denied story about a group of nations banding together to price oil in a basket of currencies rather than the dollar egged currencies on to fresh gains today. The commodity currencies got the most mileage, not surprisingly, from the story, as well as from the early RBA rate hike overnight. AUD overcame 0.8900 barriers and reached 0.8919. It dipped into the 0.8880s in afternoon trade amid reports of RBA selling of AUD/USD early in the US afternoon above the 0.8900 level.

EUR/USD struggled to overcome 1.4750 during the US morning amid reports of Mid-East selling on strength. Prices finally reached 1.4764 at the height of the gold and equity rallies but prices dipped into the 1.47-naughts before steadying to end around 1.4715.

USD/JPY traded heavy but limited to a 0.8865/85 range for much of the US afternoon. Offers from Japanese retail investors are rumored in the 0.8915/20 region, interbank traders report.

USD/CAD found heavy bids in the 1.0550/60 region from domestic Canadian banks today. Traders speculate that Canadian corporates may be hedging in anticipation of a weaker CAD down the road.

Cable consolidated losses in the US after poor UK industrial production data sank the pound during the UK morning. The pound was bearely able to participate in the dollar drubbing seen for much of the session. US trading was seen in a 1.5885/1.5941 range. We close around 1.5910.